Chef Jose Andres has again fired back at real-estate mogul Donald Trump, filing an $8M countersuit for the souring of a deal to open a flagship restaurant in Trump’s planned Washington, D.C., luxury hotel, the Washington Post reports.
Court documents filed Wednesday by Andres’ ThinkFoodGroup contend that Trump’s anti-Hispanic statements made it nearly impossible to open a Spanish restaurant, thus Trump is the one responsible for the breakdown of the deal. “The perception that Mr. Trump’s statements were anti-Hispanic made it very difficult to recruit appropriate staff for a Hispanic restaurant, to attract the requisite number of Hispanic food patrons for a profitable enterprise, and to raise capital for what was now an extraordinarily risky Spanish restaurant,” the documents state, according to the Post.
Andres backed out of the deal in July after Trump made degrading comments about Hispanic immigrants while stumping for his presidential campaign. Shortly after, Trump hit the chef with a $10 million breach-of-contract lawsuit, erupting a public firestorm between the two. Trump later sued Chef Geoffrey Zakarian for pulling out of the same hotel project.
Read the full story via the Washington Post.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.